1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cartridge coupler for a fuel cell. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fuel cartridge coupler for mounting a fuel cartridge in a fuel cell system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a fuel cell system is an electrical power generating system for directly converting chemical reaction energy of a hydrocarbon material and an oxidant into electrical energy.
Fuel cell systems can be classified by whether they are Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) or Direct Oxidation Fuel Cells (DOFCs).
The PEMFC generates electrical energy through an electrochemical reaction between a reforming gas supplied from a reformer and an oxidant supplied by driving a pump or a fan.
The reformer receives a liquid fuel of a hydrocarbon material, such as methanol or ethanol, and reforms the liquid fuel to generate a reforming gas containing hydrogen as a main ingredient.
Unlike the PEMFC, the reforming gas is not used in the DOFC, but rather a liquid fuel is directly supplied from a fuel supply source so as to generate electrical energy on the basis of an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen contained in the fuel and the oxidant that is separately supplied.
In such a fuel cell system, the fuel supply source includes a fuel tank for storing the liquid fuel. This fuel tank is installed inside of a casing that defines the appearance of the system to supply the fuel to either the reformer or the DOFC.
Unfortunately, since the fuel tank is installed inside the casing of the fuel cell system, it cannot be easily exchanged and a recharging operation is difficult. Therefore, in view of the aforementioned problems, there is an urgent need to develop fuel cartridges that can be easily installed in the fuel cell system as well as exchanged in a convenient manner in order to commercialize the fuel cell system.